


Oblation

by TracyLorde



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, canonverse, jo!clarke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-29 12:29:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19019956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TracyLorde/pseuds/TracyLorde
Summary: Bellamy wakes up in the aftermath of 6x05.





	Oblation

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for the 100 s6 e5! This is the first I've written in months, so forgive me for being a little rusty. S/o to @flawlessbellamy for being the best beta <3

The pale golden light broke into his consciousness first, accompanied by a throbbing behind his eyes, then the memory of dream he’d had, and finally the realization that it hadn’t been a dream at all…there was no escaping this living nightmare.

Clarke was gone.

He had tried to brush aside the horrible feeling that had nagged at him the entire day, but it wasn't until they were alone that he’d been unable to avoid the truth. Clarke had never been that distant with him. Even in the dropship days she’d always been open and honest with him. At their worst, they’d lashed out in pain, but they’d never stopped caring for each other. They'd committed atrocities together, but never denied the toll that had taken on their humanity, the weight they bore for each life lost.

He pushed himself to a sitting position. He was still in the room he’d been in when it had happened. When the world had come crashing down around his ears. Again.

A sudden flash of Clarke kneeling before him filled his mind. She gently hummed as she slid the knife she’d taken from him into Atom’s neck. The tears filled his eyes like they had last night, gazing up at that beautiful, horrible face. Even when he’d thought Clarke was gone forever, he’d had those memories of her intact. Now…now the fact that he could recall the kindness and strength in her eyes all those years ago seemed like some horribly sick prank.

_Josephine Lightbourne, nice to meet you…_

The words echoed in his mind as he rose to his feet, hands shaking as they reached for the door. The suns had risen and the yard before him was awash in a dawn so lovely it would have ordinarily taken his breath away.

There was no time for that now. He had to save Clarke. He had to find his people. To protect her from Sanctum. To protect them from...her.

He felt the hair standing up on the back of his neck, and realized the courtyard was as empty as it had been when they'd discovered it just days earlier. He hurtled towards the bar where he’d last seen Murphy. The pain in his leg persisted, but it was nothing compared to the terror that gripped his chest.

The room was empty, the nearby quarters as well. He saw no sign of Abby, Jordan, or Gaia. The people of Sanctum appeared to have evaporated as well. If Echo and the others had made it back, they must have been taken too. He tried several doors, all were locked.

He knew of one that was sure to be unlocked, though.

Dread compounded with every step as he ran towards the main hall.

How could he have been so blind? How had it taken him to long to realize that Clarke wasn’t Clarke? He should have known the instant she’d greeted Madi so coldly.

He remembered the way her face had changed when he’d confronted her last night. She’d been attempting to feign concern and interest all day, but the instant she’d realized the gig was up her face had twisted into something totally unfamiliar.

The tears pricked at his eyes again and he shook his head as if that would clear it. He hesitated for the briefest moment with his hand on the door to the great hall, then pushed ahead.

The antechamber was empty, as he’d expected. He pushed open the next.

The rows of skeletons chilled him more than they had yesterday, when they were an ominous foreshadowing of the truth he was soon to discover.

A strip of blue light from the other end of the room revealed the door to the lab was propped open, certainly not by accident. He had made no attempt to muffle his footsteps, so squaring his shoulders he continued on. He had no weapon, no leverage, and no real plan had formed in the minutes since he’d woken.

_Heart over head, that was my favorite Bellamy…_

Whatever Monty and Harper had intended by telling Jordan about that conversation, he bet his life that it wasn't this.

He nudged the door to the lab open with his boot and entered, hands partially raised, eyes searching for a familiar face.

Madi was strapped to the chair he’d seen in the videos, pale and still. It took everything in him to keep from hurtling towards her, but he could see the gentle rise and fall of her chest from where he stood.

She was alive, for now. He prayed she was still her.

He focused on the other people in the room. Clarke wasn’t among them, at first glance none of his people were. He saw Russell and his wife, two guards whose  
faces he vaguely recognized, and another figure he soon realized was Abby. She was wearing unfamiliar medical garments and her tear stained face didn’t register any current emotion. She met his eyes but said nothing.

Russell was first to break the silence.

“According to Josie, you were the first to discover her little secret. We’re sorry you had to find out the way you did, but hope you can take comfort in the fact that Clarke died peacefully.”  
Russell sounded so sincere, so compassionate, that Bellamy’s fury increased tenfold.

“You murdered her. You murdered her to bring your daughter back.”

He barely recognized his own voice.

Simone raised her chin haughtily. “It’s nothing you wouldn’t have done yourself, Bellamy Blake. In fact, it’s nothing you haven’t done.”

His anger drowned out any guilt that may have pained him in that moment.

“There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you do the same thing to Madi. Let her go. You can take me, but she lives.”

“Funny you should mention hell.”

Bellamy turned on his heel to see Murphy standing behind him, and on his heels Josephine, the demon in Clarke’s body.

Josephine gave him the same wicked smile she had last night when she was standing over him. Murphy mostly avoided eye contact.

“Murphy, what the fuck are you doing? Are you on their side now?”

He wasn't a nightblood, he must still be himself. He had the be playing them, he had to be. Bellamy couldn't take it, otherwise…

“Of course he's on our side,” Josephine said, her voice a full octave higher than Clarke’s. “We’ve got immortality. You’ve got….” She ran her eyes up and down his body, her face filled with disdain, “Ugly clothes and some kind of morality fetish.”

With a sideways glance at Murphy, Bellamy stepped forward until he was less than a yard from Josephine. He heard the guards move behind him, followed by a command from Russell.

“Wait…let him say his piece.”

Ignoring everything else, he focused on her face. Clarke’s face. The same familiar features, but an expression of…entertainment? Was this all a game to her?

“Clarke, if you’re in there…”

“She’s not, man…”

“Shut up, Murphy. Clarke, if you can hear me…I’m going to save Madi. She's going to be ok, I promise. And if there’s any way to bring you back, I’ll figure it out or die trying.”

Josephine twirled a strand of Clarke’s hair around her finger.

“Now, this is interesting,” she murmured. “They didn’t tell me you two were an item.”

Bellamy could barely focus on what she was saying, he was staring too intently, hoping for a glimmer of Clarke to appear beneath Josephine’s patina of arrogant amusement.

“Clarke, if you’re in there—“

“Clarke’s dead,” said Josephine brusquely, apparently bored of their conversation already.

“I don’t believe you.”

He was remembering what Priya had said to Jordan.

_She wants you to know she’s happy._

Had it been a ploy to get the lovesick kid off her back, or was it genuine?

“Fine, don’t listen to me, what do _I_ know?” Josephine was rolling her eyes, laughing.

Bellamy was desperate, he didn’t know how much longer Russell was going to let him talk.

“We’ve done the impossible before, to survive. We beat the odds every time. This time won't be any different.”

Josephine sauntered across the lab towards her parents, carrying Clarke’s shoulders as if utterly devoid of the weight usually on them.

Murphy crossed his arms and said nothing, still avoiding Bellamy’s eyes.

He didn’t have time for that problem. He had to get through to Clarke.

“You called me. You called me every day for six years.”

Josephine stopped dead in her tracks.

“2199 radio calls, even though I never replied. You can’t pretend the girl who didn’t give up when the entire world caught fire is going to give up so easily now.”

Still, she didn’t turn.

“We can do this, together. I’m not giving up, Clarke.”

Slowly she turned back towards him, and for a second he hoped that he’d see an expression he recognized. But the eyes that met his weren’t Clarke’s.

Bellamy’s heart fell but he stayed on his feet. The time for words was gone. He clenched his fists and tightened his jaw.

Turning to Murphy, he finally caught his friend’s eye for more than a moment. Murphy barely nodded, the movement so small it was imperceptible to everyone but Bellamy. Bellamy closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and then fixed his gaze on the Lightbournes.

He’d lost Clarke once to a wave of fire and found her again on the other side. This time, he wouldn't hesitate to burn Sanctum to the ground, either to get Clarke back, or destroy the monsters who'd taken her from him.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr!](https://tracylorde.tumblr.com)!


End file.
